alembic

alem·bic

noun \ə-ˈlem-bik\

Definition of ALEMBIC

1

: an apparatus used in distillation

2

: something that refines or transmutes as if by distillation <philosophy … filtered through the alembic of Plato's mind — B. T. Shropshire>

Illustration of ALEMBIC

Origin of ALEMBIC

Middle English, from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French alambic & Medieval Latin alembicum, from Arabic al-anbīq, from al the + anbīq still, from Late Greek ambik-, ambix alembic, from Greek, cap of a still

First Known Use: 14th century